It seems like only yesterday that Mariano Rivera embarked on his farewell tour, which culminated in an emotional moment at Yankee Stadium when Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte trudged to the mound to remove their longtime teammate from the final game of his illustrious career. Five years have passed, and now one of the most celebrated legends in New York Yankees history makes his first appearance on baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot.
The Yankees signed the then 20-year-old Rivera for $2,000 in the living room of his parent’s house in a poor fishing village in Panama in February of 1990.